Am I the only one who doesn't mind SpeXial's vocals on Sayonara? I love the song and I find their vocals fine - they don't ruin my enjoyment of the song.

Been listening to I Am recently and I got to admit as much as I enjoyed the songs on it, I used to find it a slog to get through. But I am now loving the A Song is Born -> Endless Sorrow section. In fact I think it's the Never Ever -> Daybreak section I find tends to drag. (Even if I do like Still Alone and Daybreak, Never Ever I can generally take or leave, it depends on my mood)

I do really enjoy the ~gone with the wind ver~ of Endless Sorrow. I can imagine a PV for this in the vein of the I Am CM. Although the single version of Endless Sorrow is my favourite, I remember sitting down to watch the Complete Clip Box (which I got for Christmas) and being amazed by the song and PV as I was expecting it to be the same as the album version.

That makes us two since the song sounds immensly better and richer. (I cannot express myself more thoroughly :) )
I am still mad that they killed that guitar solo in M on A COMPLETE ~ALL SINGLES~ I mean WHY?

God, that time was a different era for Ayu...

I wish we had demo versions of EVERYTHING.

And it may be. SpeXial sounds so bored in Sayonara IMO. I just WISH that at least one or two had vocal chops.

You're not the only one :)

^
^ "bored" is the word that I always needed to describe SpeXial in the song, I thank you so much cause I couldn't put my finger on it :laugh My guess is they were too focused on pronunciating Japanese properly they didn't put much emotion neither technique in it. I dream of a remix that pumps things up a bit in this song, there was much more potential than it showed...

Lemme join you two, it's my favorite version of it too.

I think it would have been better to get Urata to do that song and only feature the guys as dancers + English vocals.

I so much agree! I live the 10th anniversary version of Depend on you because of the guitar. I played it non stop when it first came out!

No, you're not. I don't mind them. I mean, they aren't particularly great but I feel the song itself makes up for their lacking.

I wish that Ayu had released the 15th ani version of A BEST as a two disc release, one disc being the original/remastered A BEST, and the second disc being 15th anniversary versions like those released back in '08.

Agree, but since ayu is preparing for the tour and the new album it probably left her no time to do it. I'll rather have a well produced new LP and a spectacular tour than multiple things done half assed.

Hm, they could have started preparing the rerelease soon enough to make it. Though Ayu was very busy last year as well. But to be honest I do wonder, why they're rereleasing now and not waiting till the 20th Anniversary? What makes the 15th Anniversary more special?
Cause then they could have done a fully packed rerelease with new versions and old material altogether.

15th anniversaries are pretty big in Japan. It's kinda strange but that's just how it goes, lol.

I'm really curious about how the songs would sound if she had recorded the A BEST songs with new vocals, aside from songs from the 10th anniversary recordings!

-

I've wanted to ask around for some time, but what remixes do you think would fit well while jogging/exercising? I usually listen to Koda Kumi's Driving Hits, but I'd like to alternate with ayu.

Most probably because A BEST has been doing quite well on recochoku, and they didn't want to miss the momentum. I guess they wanted to see if the high positions on recochoku would reflect on physical sales at all

i don't get why everyone is so obsessed about waiting her to re-sing everything and do a re-shoot and give everything related to original release back in 2001. :rolleyes i think a t-shirt and some photobook is so ayu-like so what did you guys really expected? deluxe edition looks so good imo. even if i'm not going to buy it, i like this release even when we don't have scan etc yet

I'd have loved it if she had placed some old unreleased material on DVD or CD like somebody said on the news thread.
There are some doubtful decisions regarding this rerelease (DVD and Blu-Ray together, the simple design of the shirt for that high price, acapella bonus songs only for iTunes e.g.)
I mean every release is supposed to make money. But at least give your best for it making it attractive for fans and buyers (and that's a general statement now).

I doubt that. Albums don't sell well digitally in general in Japan. A Best had a good chart life for positions, but I guess that only showed how well liked A Best is by the public.

I'm not sure what the obsession is with re-singing, to be honest lol... And I think if she DID re-record some of these songs, I think it wouldn't be as good. Not nearly. I don't think her vocal technique nowadays is good for the sort of young, naive, pained, broken, etc. sort of song she used to do. Her voice is TOO confident now to deliver those songs properly, in my opinion. I just feel like it wouldn't work as well. She's MUCH better at conveying regret, anger, hope, etc. nowadays as opposed to the anxiety she expressed when she was younger, which required a more strained, squeaky type of voice. She used to meow, now she roars. It's very very different.

I think the photobook is the only good thing about this release. I LOVE that it's there, and I'm loving the contents I've seen so far. I'd LOOOOVVVE to just buy the book. The inclusion of both video discs is a lame cash grab. The shirt is half-assed and won't fit everyone so it's useless to a lot of us (I mean I can't even put that on my wall - it'll just look like a mounted printout or LP or something)... also, why is it white?? A black shirt would have fit the overall mood of the release much more, and I MIGHT have been interested in that.

The box is certainly not bad, I like that they fit the CD itself into a tray inside the oversized box so the book could be a nice size. It's not badly planned.

But I wish there had been more re-creations/re-printings/re-releases of older things that either have NEVER been released or things that WERE once available but aren't anymore.
-Behind the scenes reports/videos/photos that used to be on TeamAyu but aren't anymore
-Secret Live at Akasaka Blitz
-Tour pass reproductions
-Reprinted ads/flyers for A BEST era singles & albums
-Vocal tracks for EVERY track on A BEST
-Just the addition of "monochrome," "POWDER SNOW," and "evolution" to the tracklist would have made this version of A BEST the absolute most essential version for every casual and/or old school fan, but it woulda been great to spread the release out to two audio discs to add those songs, vocal tracks, and some of the more essential remixes from the era (like the HAL's Mix of Fly high).

Also, a vinyl edition would have been unbelievably cool, and the 15th anniversary would have been a great time to release that. I don't have nearly enough Japanese music on vinyl, and "sixxxxxx" is such a delight to have... but older Ayu stuff on vinyl? omg. <3

Re-recording, to me, isn't necessary, and yeah I do think Ayu has other stuff she coulda done. But I would have preferred if Ayu & her team had a meeting and said "Okay, how can we make A BEST actually better than it was? How can we balance novelty and nostalgia in an effective way? How can we release A BEST in a way that's comfortable and welcoming for ex-fans and casuals, but also exciting and respectful for current and long-time fans?"

I feel like there are SO many ways to accomplish that, and... they just really dropped the ball.

So over the dark hair now. Bring back the Barbie hair.

Though I pretty much agree with your entire post, this part was the best. I agree with it one hundred percent. I think if she did the re-recording's that people would be, at first, very excited, but then they'd listen to it and complain that it'd be missing that 'something' I've seen constantly talked about here. Honestly couldn't have explained my feelings towards re-recording as you had. Thank you! xD